1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to an autostereoscopic device for use in television, computer graphics and the like viewing applications.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,949 describes an autostereoscopic device possessing a large number of illuminating lines situated behind a transmissive display.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,365 discloses a special masking technique that could be used to use this type of system with practically any transmissive display configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,385 further extends the capabilities of the above type of autostereoscopic display by adding blinking or moving illumination patterns and colored illumination patterns, which can provide hologram like images that a single observer can look around, or which multiple observers can each see with correct perspective.
All of these displays are intended for viewing by a small number of people situated in a computer workstation, telerobiotic station, or similar environment. They are not suited for viewing by large numbers of people sitting in random locations around a room, as is the case in a typical entertainment television viewing situation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a display that can present such images using bandwidths and formats identical to those used for television today or contemplated for High Definition Television in the future.
Another object of this invention is to provide a display that can present three dimensional (3D) images to a large number of people sitting in various locations around a medium sized room, such as the living room of a typical house.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a display that can present a different perspective view to a person or persons depending on their locations in front of the display, so that each person sees an undistorted image with the proper perspective associated with that person's position or spacing in the room.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a display that can sense the positions of many people situated in front of it and direct its light only toward those persons, generating only two perspective images for each person, one being a left eye view and the other a right eye view, so that bandwidth is not wasted generating 3D images visible in areas in front of the display where there is no one to observe them.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a display that presents the same left eye view and the same right eye view to each person sitting in front of the display, thus allowing the minimum bandwidth possible for the transmission of stereoscopic images.
Still other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following detailed description and claims.